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Tuesday, December 4, 2018

Random Encounters in Bleak Europe (LotFP)

Ah, now this is the stuff I love doing. Now that I'm back to prepping and running some DIYD&D stuff, I get to make all sorts of cool things that I can share with folks.

My upcoming Lamentations of the Flame Princess game will take place in 17th century Central Europe. The PCs will have plenty of opportunities to travel, so that means I need to put together a random encounters table. Like all good encounter tables, I wanted to make sure the entries helped express the atmosphere and theme of the game world. In this case, it's bleak semi-apocalypse with war, disease, and witchcraft.

When I use this table, I'll probably cross out each encounter after it procs. Even with a d30 list, I don't want to have too many repeat encounters. Gotta' keep it fresh!

These encounters were written with LotFP in mind, but it should work well enough for aby other old-style D&D game.

Download from Google Docs or read below!


Bleak Europe Random Encounters

Check for encounters twice per day while travelling across war-torn Central Europe.
An encounter happens on a roll of a 1 on 1d6.
Roll 1d30 to find out what the PCs have discovered.


1) Pilgrims travelling to an ancient shrine
  • 6d6 0-level pilgrims.
  • 15% chance of being led by level 1d3 cleric.


2) Bandits
  • 2d6 0-level fighters
  • 2nd level fighter leader


3) Soldiers travelling to join up with their main force.
  • 1d6 x 50 0-level fighters lead by 3rd level fighter (captain), plus 1st level fighter per 50 soldiers (sergeants)
  • Roll 1d4
  • 1: German
  • 2: Swedish
  • 3: Danish
  • 4: French


4) 2d4 lepers run out of the closest town.
  • 0-levels. Save vs. poison each hour of contact to avoid catching leprosy.


5) 1d6 peasants (0-level) digging a mass grave
  • Attracts 1d4+1 ghouls at night.
  • Ghouls: HD: 2; AC: 14; Rasping tongue +2 (1d6, save vs paralysis or lose Dex equal to damage); Morale: 9


6) Witch Hunter
  • 50/50 chance of either catholic or protestant
  • Roll 1d4
  • 1: Fighter level 1-4
  • 2: Cleric level 1-4
  • 3: Specialist level 1-6
  • 4: 0-level
  • Accompanied by 2d4 0-level assistants and guards


7) Ruined Village
  • 75% chance of 1d3 rag pickers
  • 25% chance of 1d4 ghouls


8) Travelling merchant with wagon and pack animals
  • 1d3+1 guards (Fighter 1)
  • Selling (roll 1d6):
  • 1-4: general goods
  • 5: luxury goods
  • 6: weapons and armor
  • 1d6 x 100sp in cash


9) Travelling performers
  • 4d4 actors, musicians, and acrobats
  • 20% of Magic User level 1-4


10) Hungry Wolves!
  • 2d6 wolves (2 HD; AC: 12; Bite +2 (1d6); Morale 7)


11) Large tree full of 3d30 corpses hanging from nooses.
  • 25% chance of attracting 3d6 ghouls at night
  • 20% chance of being haunted by marco-spectre
  • Macro-Spectre: HD: number of bodies/3, HP: number of bodies; AC: 12; Ectoplasmic torrent +HD to hit (1d12 damage, save or lose 1 from all attributes); Only hurt by magic, silver, or cold iron; Morale: 12


12) Orphans
  • 2d6 pre-adolescent children. Lost, frightened, and hungry.


13) 3d6 prisoners of war, crucified along the road. 
  • Very much dead.


14) Battlefield littered with the recently dead.
  • 1d6 rag pickers
  • 15% chance of attracting 2d6 ghouls
  • 1-in-8 chance each turn of finding something interesting among the dead soldiers.


15) 1d6x10 refugees. 0-level
  • Cold, hungry, and desperate.


16) Ancient cemetery
  • 25% chance of containing passage to Ghoul Market
  • 20% chance of buried valuable grave goods (2d6x50sp value)


17) Magic User (level 1d6), travelling to visit an associate.
  • Accompanied by bonded and disguised demon with HD equal to MU’s level.


18) Dead horse lies bloated in the middle of the road.
  • Stomach will erupt with 2d6 deadly snakes (1 HD; AC 12; Bite +1 (1 damage, save or loose 3d6 CON); Morale 7).


19) Dead man hangs from a tree. 
  • His crime is branded onto his chest (roll 1d6).
  • 1: Rape
  • 2: Murder
  • 3: Horse theft
  • 4: Desertion
  • 5: Heresy
  • 6: Witchcraft


20) Farm with 1d6+1 family members (0 levels)
  • Roll 1d6 for disposition
  • 1: Friendly but boastful
  • 2: Suspicious and surly
  • 3: Fearful and violent
  • 4: Superstitious but generous
  • 5: Pious but mournful
  • 6: Cannibals


21) Band of 1d4+2 deserters. (1st level fighters, morale 5)
  • Swords and pole arms, guns but no ammo. Frightened, but not looking for a fight.


22) Bear, maddened by sickness
  • HD 5; AC 14; Claw/claw/bite +5 (1d4/1d4/1d6); save vs poison or contract rabies; Morale 10


23) 3 plague doctors (2nd level specialists) travelling to infested village.
  • Carry 3d4 bottles of medicine. (15% chance of actually being functional healing potions, 2d4 hp)


24) Man (0-level) pulling a wagonload of corpses
  • What's he up to? (Roll 1d6)
  • 1-4: Taking the corpses to a nearby mass grave
  • 5-6: Taking corpses to sell to a necromancer he knows (level 1d6+3 Magic User)


25) Traveling noble, off to visit a relation in a nearby city
  • Level 0 noble, guarded by 1d6+2 2nd level fighters.
  • 2d6x100sp in cash, gifts, and jewelry.


26) Hermit, washing his clothes in a nearby stream.
  • Level 1-4 cleric. Hair shirt, staff, pet goat, hallucinogenic mushrooms.


27) Eloping Couple
  • Young 0-level minor nobles from rival families.
  • Horse, 2d6x20sp in cash and jewelry. Bad instincts and no survival skills.
  • Perused by bounty hunter (level 5 specialist, 2-6 chance each night of catching up to them).
  • Families have each issued a 500sp bounty for their child’s safe return.


28) Old, abandoned windmill
  • Decent shelter. 
  • 20% chance of being used by 1d4 witches (level 1d4 magic users) to grind children’s bones into meal.


29) Vampire, traveling to new lair.
  • 1d6 0-level minions. Horses and wagon with coffin full of grave dirt. Deed to ancient building.
  • Vampire: HD: 8; AC: 16; Claw/Claw +8 (1d6, if both claws hit the vampire bites and drains blood for 1d4 CON per round); Only hurt by magic, silver, or fire; Charm Person at will; Vampire powers; Morale: 10


30) Apocalypse Angel, visible a mile away, harvesting souls from (roll 1d4):
  • 1: Plague-ridden village
  • 2: Famine-ruined farms
  • 3: Bloody battlefield
  • 4: Mass-suicide
  • Apocalypse Angel: HD: 12; AC: 18; Sword of Ruination +12 (4d6, 2 attacks per round); Ashen Gaze (save or disintegrate); Morale 12



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